'Godzilla' opens with smashing $93.2 million

From The Associated Press

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Weekend ticket sales

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

1. "Godzilla," $93.2 million ($103 million international).

2. "Neighbors," $26 million ($13.5 million international).

3. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $17 million ($32 million international).

LOS ANGELES — "Godzilla" has smashed its way to the top of the box office.

The 3-D monster movie from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures had the second-largest debut of the year this weekend with $93.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Godzilla" trails Disney-Marvel's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," which opened with $95 million in April, and sits just above "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," which debuted with $91.6 million this month.

Paying homage to the 60-year-old franchise in tone and spectacle, the latest iteration continues the legend of 1954 Japanese original — Ishiro Honda's "Gojira." Reviews of the film were positive — it earned a "fresh" rating from review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com, with 72 percent of film critics responding positively.

Legendary Pictures President Jon Jashni said the film did better than expected partly because it was "starting to get sampled even by those who didn't think it would necessarily be for them. They didn't have nostalgic feelings for it." He said friends or family members likely recommended the movie to those viewers.

Jashni added that the success of "Godzilla" is "validating" after last year's "Pacific Rim" and "Jack the Giant Slayer" performed below expectations for the Warner-Legendary team.

The film, directed by Gareth Edwards, also helped eliminate the bad memory of another of the franchise's remakes, Roland Emmerich's "Godzilla," released in 1998 and starring Matthew Broderick. Backed by Sony, the film opened with $44 million.

Two other reboots — "Godzilla 1985" and "Godzilla 2000" — also flopped.

May is prime real estate for studios looking to launch or advance franchises. The top two opening weekends of all time in North America occurred in May — "The Avengers" opened with $207.4 million in 2012 and "Iron Man 3" debuted with $174.1 million in 2013.

"The summer is about having a diverse lineup, and this film will have legs," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "If superheroes and monsters aren't your pleasure, you can go see a more character-driven sports movie."